I was first introduced to this talk a few weeks ago in another class but I was happy to watch it again. Although it makes me sad and frustrated to watch, it's a message I need reminded of often. The reason it makes me sad and frustrated is because I can't believe how cruel, unsympathetic, and careless people are on the internet especially to absolute strangers. I know there's always the argument that you can't know for sure what someone is really meaning through type and that there is always room for misunderstanding but in many cases, the message is all too clear and obvious what they are "really trying to say". Of course, a perfect example of this is Monica Lewinsky's story.
How does social media desensitize?
First off, the key element of social media is immediacy. This is also an element of insensitivity because you can't ever fully understand something or feel for someone in a matter of seconds or even minutes. We see events and people as flashes across our screen and give ourselves about 3 seconds to make a conclusion about it. After the ball had been rolling on this scandal, it resulted in people just seeing her name or her photo and automatically making a judgement about her. The other manner in which social media is desensitized is that we don't have to face the person we are bashing, it isn't real enough to actually filter what you are saying. We somehow are able to ignore the fact that behind the profile picture or paparazzi photo, is an actual human being with feelings and experiences you will never know or understand; or at least not through a screen.
How can compassion displace shame on social media?
As Monica states, compassion needs to not only take effect in the online world, but in our real world culture as well. As we begin to change the way we treat each other in real life and be more kind, that will start to seep into our online life as well. If a trend of positivity started to take over and there were more loving and uplifting comments, negative comments would lose their appeal. Trollers would stop popping in if they knew no one was interested in their negative comment. I know this is a cliche statement but I think bullies online need to be killed by kindness. Rather than people feeling entitled to inform someone of their opinion or wrongdoing, they should accept that it's okay to disagree with people and still go on with your life. All of these things are easier said then done which is why I said that it has to start within our culture and our own personalities.
What are you prepared to do?
I really liked how she said instead of thinking of it as your right to speech, think of it as a responsibility for your speech. I completely agree with her and I think sometimes we get so caught up in the freedom to say whatever we want, we forget how powerful our words really are for good or bad. My responsibility online is not taking everything I read and see as face value. "You can't judge a book by its cover" seems like a saying we've heard a million times yet we still don't seem to get it. Although I have never participated in public shaming someone or spreading hateful words or photos, I am guilty of the little things nearly everyday. Reading a blog post and assuming it's true, seeing a photo on Instagram and making a snap judgement, reading a rage post on Facebook and automatically picking a side. All of these things have to stop and it's not an overnight change. It's something I need to consciously challenge myself every day to stop judging, stop being negative, and spread more kindness and compassion.
Monday, April 25, 2016
Monday, April 18, 2016
Facebook Campaign Final Review
I'll admit from the very start, I was not excited about this project. I really don't care for Facebook and I don't think it is where a business thrives or at least not our business. I honestly believe most people don't spend time scrolling down their newsfeed anymore, so the only way to really get your page noticed is by paying for ad space, which we just don't see as something necessary to our business at this time. I also realized other pages that were similar to our business who did have a lot of page likes and follows, had been set up for some time and probably started at the primetime of Facebook. I promise I am not trying to justify my lack of full involvement in this project, I'm just being honest in my observations.
Now, as far as following my original campaign plan, I think I did okay. I had two main goals; first to create a page that was inspiring, professional, positive, fun, romantic, and relatable. Second, to stand out as the best videographer in Southern Utah and show that he is following his dreams and the kind of person you would want to work with and support. I also added that I think it's really important to mention or tag the people who worked with him on the shoot. Not only does this help with our networking and relationships with other vendors, it also gets more eyes from fans of the other vendors. I think the first way I implemented these goals was in the way I wrote the posts that supplemented the photo or video I was posting. I tried to keep it short but upbeat and exciting. I also tried to include a call to action or a request somewhere in the post to try to get more engagement. Here are a couple examples of the posts I did that implemented those things.
Now, as far as following my original campaign plan, I think I did okay. I had two main goals; first to create a page that was inspiring, professional, positive, fun, romantic, and relatable. Second, to stand out as the best videographer in Southern Utah and show that he is following his dreams and the kind of person you would want to work with and support. I also added that I think it's really important to mention or tag the people who worked with him on the shoot. Not only does this help with our networking and relationships with other vendors, it also gets more eyes from fans of the other vendors. I think the first way I implemented these goals was in the way I wrote the posts that supplemented the photo or video I was posting. I tried to keep it short but upbeat and exciting. I also tried to include a call to action or a request somewhere in the post to try to get more engagement. Here are a couple examples of the posts I did that implemented those things.
I had suspected that my target audience would be females, ages 18-28 who were most likely engaged or in a serious relationship. My estimate was correct and that audience also happened to be the ones who engaged in our page the most as well. (See the insight capture below) I was at a loss with how to directly cater to this audience however I think the nature of our business naturally does that. We typically film weddings, bridals, love stories, and styled shoots with attractive couples. Women tend to love all of that stuff! (And yes I was being totally stereotypical right there).
When I started this campaign, the page "likes" was at around 503. We are currently at 570 now. My original goal was to be at 1,000 likes by the end of the semester, so I clearly didn't reach that. Again, I attribute some of the cause to being a little late to the Facebook "rage party." Yet, the larger cause is my own shortcoming in not cross-promoting or reaching out to gain new followers more earnestly. The growth of attention we did get was an improvement over the last six months so I am happy with that (see insight photos below)
(the last three photos above show my page reach for the campaign)
Another part of my campaign plan was to post two to three times a week and implement both photos and videos as well as possibly sharing from other users' pages. Again, I fell short and only posted once a week, sometimes twice (a total of 17 posts from the start of this project). Not to make another excuse but this is a slow time for our business and I really had a hard time finding things to post without always doing a "throwback" or posting something personal. He finished up all of his fall/winter weddings just before this project and his spring/summer weddings haven't happened yet. With what I could post, I did try to do a fairly even mix of photos and videos to determine which yielded the best engagement and the result was inconclusive. I did, however notice a trend in the posts that did attain the most reach/engagement. They tended to be the ones that were shorter in length and something I described with words like, "new, exciting, different, and styled."
(you can see above that my linked videos received better outcomes than photos or imported videos)
(the two photos above show which posts received the most attention)
The reason I think these posts "worked" is because they are short in length. I think most people are busy and if they see something labeled "new and exciting" and then also see that it is only 1-2 minutes long, they are much more willing and interested to watch. Unfortunately we can't always post short styled videos because we don't do them as often as weddings (because they are done for free and take a ton of planning). However, I do think going forward that maybe instead of always posting the full wedding highlight film, perhaps we can post a short "sneak peek" and try to push them to our website if they want to see the entire film.
During this time, another thing we did was renovate our Instagram page. The first thing that was done was to create a second personal account so that going forward all posts on Red Tie Cinema contained only work-related posts. We also wanted to make it look more presentable and pleasing to the eye when you land on the page. At first, we lost a few followers because we posted so much trying to get it set up, however I think now it is a way better look for the business and something people will want to follow. We haven't really cross-promoted Facebook and Instagram which I know we should in the future, but we do try to send people to our website from Instagram by always mentioning "link in bio." I think Instagram is our main focus right now, it seems to be working a lot better for us versus Facebook and his posts get a lot more likes and comments than on Facebook. Another note to add is that he gets more inquiries(people interested in booking) from Instagram than Facebook as well.
(screenshot of Instagram feed below)
My overall summary of the campaign is more or less disappointing. I know that I didn't put my full heart and effort into it, yet I was still disappointed that seemingly nobody liked our posts or felt the desire to comment or share. It is morbidly funny that the same 5-7 people like our posts each time and usually the only person to ever leave a comment is my mother-in-law (bless our tiny, dedicated group of fans). I guess I took it personally most of the time rather than realizing that people just don't have time to invest in it. I think that may be part of the reason I didn't dive in more was because I kept getting discouraged. I think I would need to carry out a solid campaign plan for longer than 3-4 months to see success. Especially on Facebook, I think growing an audience takes a lot longer and the more data you have to analyze, the more accurately you can determine what your followers respond to and what they don't. I do think the way I wrote the descriptions helped a lot and posting 2-3 times a week would be ideal to keep people interested without drowning them.
I'm looking forward to the busy season for our business and to keep posting for my husband and hopefully gain more reach and followers over time. However, as I have mentioned a few times, we aren't truly invested in Facebook for advertising our business and I think that's totally legitimate. When someone submits an inquiry form through his website, there is a section they have to fill out asking, "how did you hear about us?" The top responses are internet search, a friend, another wedding vendor, and Instagram. Besides organic inquiries to our website, the number one way he books weddings, is when a photographer or wedding planner highly recommends his services. I think we have already found the secret to success and it is through networking and creating strong and positive relationships with other vendors and clients. This campaign plan has shown me that we shouldn't abandon Facebook or stop building it up, yet it has also proven to me that we need to direct more of our efforts to Google search optimization, Instagram, and of course continue our strong networking strategies.
Wednesday, March 23, 2016
Facebook Page Ad
As a reminder, I'm taking over my husband's business page, Red Tie Cinematography. I chose an ad to direct more traffic to our website because that's where all of his videos are and the form to contact him directly. I kept the ad focus within Utah because that's where the majority of our clients come from. I also chose a photo of Dustin rather than his logo because I wanted it to be more personal and add a face to the business. I also opted not to choose a photo of a couple he has filmed because it is hard for perspective clients to "picture themselves there" being filmed rather than seeing two strangers. I also decided not to do a video ad for fear of people not wanting to put in the time to linger and watch it. I kept the ad very simple and quick and included a call to action- "book your special day now!" At this time, we can't run the ad but I hope in the near future we can and see how successful it is! Here are my screenshots:
Attitudinal Response
For this assignment, I decided to review my first well informed post which was on Racism. I feel like this is one of those controversial topics that nearly everyone has a set "viewpoint" on or automatic response. I certainly did and still do. As I read over my WI post, I noticed that I did try to see the issue from all sides and discuss alternative opinions of it all however I did see my automatic response peeking out ever so slightly. I saw it with the first example I shared about the students starting "white unions." I found myself automatically applauding them and thinking "yeah, what's wrong with that?" Although I didn't bluntly state that in my post, I know that's what my true reaction was.
Before I even started the assignment and just saw the topic coming up, I thought "great.. here we go with the non-sense." Being completely honest here, I don't think my automatic response is simply racism doesn't exist. My automatic response is more that I feel sometimes minority races play the victim card and/or create a racism situation when there really isn't one. I saw my attitudinal response again with the articles I shared putting the blame on white people so to speak. Before I even read the article, I read the title, "white people- if you aren't part of the solution, you are part of the problem." I almost instantly got a negative feeling and couldn't wait to dive into the article and argue everything she wrote. That being said, after I read her articles, I did take a minute and reflect on what she was trying to get across. Although I didn't agree with everything she said, I could understand how black people feel and how we sometimes un-knowingly are acting racist in some way.
I feel like my automatic responses to Racism come from a variety of things. First off, obviously I am white. That is something I can't change and I can't pretend that it doesn't impact my feelings on this issue. As much as I would want to walk a day in someone else's skin to see how racism affects them, I can't. Although I really don't feel any sort of supremacy over anyone else especially over another race, I have to factor in my own race as a part of my attitudinal response. Another factor that stems my thinking and creates a barrier is where I grew up. Bountiful, Utah and then as an adult, Saint George, Utah. I was and am literally surrounded by white people and their viewpoints on racism. I often hear "black jokes" and conversations about how someone is crying out racism again, followed by rolling of eyes. I don't think I am an extremist on other side of the pendulum however I am definitely in the middle somewhere. I have to admit that I chuckle at some of those jokes and I too occasionally roll my eyes when I hear those stories of racism.
I think that both the well informed assignment as well as this one is helping me to realize I am not completely innocent. There may be little flickers of racism or racist thinking instilled in me. The only thing to ask myself is do I see it as an automatic attitudinal response that has no real backing or critical thinking or do I see it as my true opinion and stance, if you will. I believe it is a little of both. I do still firmly believe that some individuals do hide behind the color of their skin and use it to either claim a wrong doing or to get their way. Yes, I realize that sounds harsh but that is my own solid opinion. However, I think that when I do see/hear a story or a video or see a photo dealing with racism; rather than automatically thinking this is one of those situations (referring to my stance above) I need to clear my head, fully engage myself in the story and figure out for myself what is going on and the dynamics therein. Then, I can think critically about the people involved and how they may be perceiving the situation and make a conclusion, not judgement, about what I saw/heard.
In conclusion, I need to stop automatically viewing racism as an annoying issue that needs to stop being blown out of proportion. Instead, I need to realize this is a real issue that in many cases, individuals are really suffering from. Instead of assuming I know how someone feels or what they are meaning to say, I need to understand who they are and what they have experienced. I need to get past the easy response and band-aid solutions and get to the core of the issue and realize what I personally am contributing to the problem and how I can stop.
Before I even started the assignment and just saw the topic coming up, I thought "great.. here we go with the non-sense." Being completely honest here, I don't think my automatic response is simply racism doesn't exist. My automatic response is more that I feel sometimes minority races play the victim card and/or create a racism situation when there really isn't one. I saw my attitudinal response again with the articles I shared putting the blame on white people so to speak. Before I even read the article, I read the title, "white people- if you aren't part of the solution, you are part of the problem." I almost instantly got a negative feeling and couldn't wait to dive into the article and argue everything she wrote. That being said, after I read her articles, I did take a minute and reflect on what she was trying to get across. Although I didn't agree with everything she said, I could understand how black people feel and how we sometimes un-knowingly are acting racist in some way.
I feel like my automatic responses to Racism come from a variety of things. First off, obviously I am white. That is something I can't change and I can't pretend that it doesn't impact my feelings on this issue. As much as I would want to walk a day in someone else's skin to see how racism affects them, I can't. Although I really don't feel any sort of supremacy over anyone else especially over another race, I have to factor in my own race as a part of my attitudinal response. Another factor that stems my thinking and creates a barrier is where I grew up. Bountiful, Utah and then as an adult, Saint George, Utah. I was and am literally surrounded by white people and their viewpoints on racism. I often hear "black jokes" and conversations about how someone is crying out racism again, followed by rolling of eyes. I don't think I am an extremist on other side of the pendulum however I am definitely in the middle somewhere. I have to admit that I chuckle at some of those jokes and I too occasionally roll my eyes when I hear those stories of racism.
I think that both the well informed assignment as well as this one is helping me to realize I am not completely innocent. There may be little flickers of racism or racist thinking instilled in me. The only thing to ask myself is do I see it as an automatic attitudinal response that has no real backing or critical thinking or do I see it as my true opinion and stance, if you will. I believe it is a little of both. I do still firmly believe that some individuals do hide behind the color of their skin and use it to either claim a wrong doing or to get their way. Yes, I realize that sounds harsh but that is my own solid opinion. However, I think that when I do see/hear a story or a video or see a photo dealing with racism; rather than automatically thinking this is one of those situations (referring to my stance above) I need to clear my head, fully engage myself in the story and figure out for myself what is going on and the dynamics therein. Then, I can think critically about the people involved and how they may be perceiving the situation and make a conclusion, not judgement, about what I saw/heard.
In conclusion, I need to stop automatically viewing racism as an annoying issue that needs to stop being blown out of proportion. Instead, I need to realize this is a real issue that in many cases, individuals are really suffering from. Instead of assuming I know how someone feels or what they are meaning to say, I need to understand who they are and what they have experienced. I need to get past the easy response and band-aid solutions and get to the core of the issue and realize what I personally am contributing to the problem and how I can stop.
Tuesday, March 1, 2016
On The Media #3
Cartel Land- Fighting Violence with Violence
For this week's show I decided to listen to the interview with Matthew Heineman and Bob Garfield about the documentary, "Cartel Land." I heard about this film when it came out and those that saw it. said it was a must see and very well made. I never got around to seeing it and had forgotten about it until I saw it pop up in this weeks lineup. I'll admit, I probably should go and watch it before writing this post but I think I can still write a good analysis based on the interview itself.
The first thing I thought about is this idea of civilian "armies" and how that may coincide with civil disobedience. I think this is a huge social issue that people feel the right and duty to act. I really believe there is an appropriate time and place for these two things. I think if the people feel unsafe or unheard or threatened by something that the government is unwilling to act on, they have every right to take up protest or arms to defend themselves. That being said, there are always ways this right can be abused, for example the battalion against the cartel that this documentary examines. When I read the original synopsis for the film, I thought "good for them!" and how inspiring that this group of people are willing to put their lives at risk and fight this violent and powerful organization. Then my eyes were opened a little through this interview and hearing/seeing clips from the film and hearing Matthew's perspective on things. It was a little shocking to me what these vigilantes were willing to do and what they felt they "had" to do. So I guess that is the question, where is the line when fighting something you believe to be evil?
Of course, my answer to this question is going to be subjective to what I believe is right and wrong and certainly shouldn't be generalized to everyone. I don't think it's as easy to say you can't fight violence with violence because unfortunately it is necessary sometimes. If someone is shooting up a place, do you think it would be best to fight them with your words? Most people would agree, that you need to equally meet the gunner with a gun and take him/her out. However, if you are trying to fight against this gang because they are doing violent and illegal things and yet you are fighting through means of violent and illegal acts.. who is the criminal now, or I guess maybe the "worst" criminal? This whole idea, I think is very psychological and individual to what one person believes to the next. I found it very interesting that Matthew experienced this same cognitive dissonance throughout filming of trying to keep track of who was the "bad guys" or the "good guys." As Matt said, it's hard to say if you are against the torture or violence of someone who is always doing those things and maybe wouldn't think twice of doing it to your family if the situation arose. The humanistic side of me says that there is never a place for torture to get information or to punish yet the logical side of me thinks if there was an individual who had critical information of something much greater like a terrorist attack or who the "boss" was.. maybe it's okay?
As the interview shows, in our culture, media seems to portray vigilantes and acts of civil disobedience as negative and wrong and maybe sometimes it is but I do believe most of the time it is warranted and done non-violently. I really like and appreciate that Matthew was able to stay objective and that his motives for the film was to show every side of it and to put you in his perspective and observations of it all. I still can't believe he did put himself in those situations of such high risk and vulnerability. That brings up a whole different topic of media and the cultural context of what some journalists and filmmakers are willing to do these days to cover a story or an issue. Unfortunately, after all of this, I still don't think I've been able to come to an official stance on this. As I said, I really need/want to watch the film to fully appreciate all of the angles and information that's presented. I will reiterate that I think there is a validity to civilian armies and acts of civil disobedience but I also think there is an issue with what is ethically and morally right when doing so.
For this week's show I decided to listen to the interview with Matthew Heineman and Bob Garfield about the documentary, "Cartel Land." I heard about this film when it came out and those that saw it. said it was a must see and very well made. I never got around to seeing it and had forgotten about it until I saw it pop up in this weeks lineup. I'll admit, I probably should go and watch it before writing this post but I think I can still write a good analysis based on the interview itself.
The first thing I thought about is this idea of civilian "armies" and how that may coincide with civil disobedience. I think this is a huge social issue that people feel the right and duty to act. I really believe there is an appropriate time and place for these two things. I think if the people feel unsafe or unheard or threatened by something that the government is unwilling to act on, they have every right to take up protest or arms to defend themselves. That being said, there are always ways this right can be abused, for example the battalion against the cartel that this documentary examines. When I read the original synopsis for the film, I thought "good for them!" and how inspiring that this group of people are willing to put their lives at risk and fight this violent and powerful organization. Then my eyes were opened a little through this interview and hearing/seeing clips from the film and hearing Matthew's perspective on things. It was a little shocking to me what these vigilantes were willing to do and what they felt they "had" to do. So I guess that is the question, where is the line when fighting something you believe to be evil?
Of course, my answer to this question is going to be subjective to what I believe is right and wrong and certainly shouldn't be generalized to everyone. I don't think it's as easy to say you can't fight violence with violence because unfortunately it is necessary sometimes. If someone is shooting up a place, do you think it would be best to fight them with your words? Most people would agree, that you need to equally meet the gunner with a gun and take him/her out. However, if you are trying to fight against this gang because they are doing violent and illegal things and yet you are fighting through means of violent and illegal acts.. who is the criminal now, or I guess maybe the "worst" criminal? This whole idea, I think is very psychological and individual to what one person believes to the next. I found it very interesting that Matthew experienced this same cognitive dissonance throughout filming of trying to keep track of who was the "bad guys" or the "good guys." As Matt said, it's hard to say if you are against the torture or violence of someone who is always doing those things and maybe wouldn't think twice of doing it to your family if the situation arose. The humanistic side of me says that there is never a place for torture to get information or to punish yet the logical side of me thinks if there was an individual who had critical information of something much greater like a terrorist attack or who the "boss" was.. maybe it's okay?
As the interview shows, in our culture, media seems to portray vigilantes and acts of civil disobedience as negative and wrong and maybe sometimes it is but I do believe most of the time it is warranted and done non-violently. I really like and appreciate that Matthew was able to stay objective and that his motives for the film was to show every side of it and to put you in his perspective and observations of it all. I still can't believe he did put himself in those situations of such high risk and vulnerability. That brings up a whole different topic of media and the cultural context of what some journalists and filmmakers are willing to do these days to cover a story or an issue. Unfortunately, after all of this, I still don't think I've been able to come to an official stance on this. As I said, I really need/want to watch the film to fully appreciate all of the angles and information that's presented. I will reiterate that I think there is a validity to civilian armies and acts of civil disobedience but I also think there is an issue with what is ethically and morally right when doing so.
Saturday, February 27, 2016
Facebook Campaign Update
I just wanted to write a brief update on how our business page is doing! I have to admit, I haven't been doing as much with it as I was wanting but I'm going to step it up! So when I gave the presentation in class, I think the page was at 500 likes or maybe 504, something close to that. In the past few weeks, we have gained 50 new followers which isn't really a lot but comparatively speaking of his page as a whole, that's the most growth we have seen for a long time! I've been looking into the metrics of the page to find out when the best time to post is, who is liking our posts, which posts were the most popular, ect. I also posted a photo of Dustin and our daughter on the page and it got a very positive response!
I have also been trying to look at other videographers fb pages to see what they are doing, how often they post and what's working for them. Of course, I'm not trying to say that I want to copy what everyone is doing but I do think it is helpful to look at other sources and figure out what's going to work and be successful for you personally. I noticed that some people post twice a day or every day, I think right now for our audience and content, that is too much. I'm wanting to start out at posting every other day and maybe build off from there rather than going from posting once a week or every two weeks to suddenly bombarding people! In addition to me taking over the Facebook page, my husband has been revamping his Instagram as well to make it more presentable and easy to look at. This will also help cross promote between the two pages if they are consistent with one another.
I am still trying to figure out how to get people to actually click like on the videos. I shared one yesterday around noon which was supposedly a peak time and included a question of "what do you think?" and "if you love it, share it with your friends!" and it got 4 likes, FOUR. And one of those was my personal account, ugh. I know it's silly to get frustrated about a "like" in a virtual world where it really doesn't mean anything, but I guess when it's your (meaning my husband's) art, passion, and livelihood; it does sting a little. It's okay though, just have to brush it off and keep trying and maybe after a while or after this project, we will conclude that FB just isn't for us and maybe it just doesn't work for this type of business. There are lots of outlets to advertise and share your work with the world, it's just about finding where you fit in! Heading back to the think tank!
I have also been trying to look at other videographers fb pages to see what they are doing, how often they post and what's working for them. Of course, I'm not trying to say that I want to copy what everyone is doing but I do think it is helpful to look at other sources and figure out what's going to work and be successful for you personally. I noticed that some people post twice a day or every day, I think right now for our audience and content, that is too much. I'm wanting to start out at posting every other day and maybe build off from there rather than going from posting once a week or every two weeks to suddenly bombarding people! In addition to me taking over the Facebook page, my husband has been revamping his Instagram as well to make it more presentable and easy to look at. This will also help cross promote between the two pages if they are consistent with one another.
I am still trying to figure out how to get people to actually click like on the videos. I shared one yesterday around noon which was supposedly a peak time and included a question of "what do you think?" and "if you love it, share it with your friends!" and it got 4 likes, FOUR. And one of those was my personal account, ugh. I know it's silly to get frustrated about a "like" in a virtual world where it really doesn't mean anything, but I guess when it's your (meaning my husband's) art, passion, and livelihood; it does sting a little. It's okay though, just have to brush it off and keep trying and maybe after a while or after this project, we will conclude that FB just isn't for us and maybe it just doesn't work for this type of business. There are lots of outlets to advertise and share your work with the world, it's just about finding where you fit in! Heading back to the think tank!
Monday, February 22, 2016
Religion 3.0 Well Informed Post
Freedom of Religion, Freedom of Choice?
For my well informed post this week, I wanted to explore whether or not our First Amendment right to freedom of religion is being threatened. I am not discussing a single religion or the one I affiliate with rather all religion as a whole (and those who choose not to participate in religion). Before I begin this post, I personally don't feel like our freedom of religion is being threatened. If anyone truly believes it is needs to try living in most of the Middle East or North Korea. In the United States we are absolutely free to practice what we choose (as long as you aren't killing people or breaking the law). That being said, I think the better question to ask is how is tolerance changing when it comes to religion? It's clear for the most part that the government couldn't care less what you do or don't believe in, but what about the general culture or society? It seems on both sides it's getting more intolerant; religious people want everyone else to be religious and less or non-religious people want everyone to stop judging them and stop being.. what's the word? a bigot. Why can't both sides actually "do what they preach?"
I found this interesting website where you can have a clear and organized debate with others so I looked up this topic to see what people were saying. I really liked what this person said, "But the message from many places in the United States is that religions and religious people are to be silent. Religions and religious people deserve the right to be able to voice their beliefs in the public sphere without fear that they will lose their employment, home, or emotional well-being. The government has a duty to protect religious thought and not favor any religion or lack of religion. A secular state forces religious beliefs to be hidden, which goes against many religious beliefs which require its practitioners to be vocal and public about their beliefs..." Another more generalized statement I relate to was this, "Believe that marriage is between a man and a woman and you're intolerant. If you believe life begins at conception, you hate women. The people who are supposedly the most tolerant are actually the least." Being a religious (although not extreme or devout) person myself, I find these statements to be very true. If I speak out the tiniest statement on social media about a belief I have or why I support/don't support something, I am usually torn apart and personally attacked. Which is why I don't say anything anymore which I think is troubling that so many religious people feel like they can't speak up for fear of retaliation rather than a civil discussion or debate that would perhaps end with "let's agree to disagree but still be kind to one another."
On the other side of the debate we have those who feel they are suffocating under religion whether it's pressure put on by their parents or the community or church leaders. They feel like they are being watched until they make a mistake and then be scolded for it. I found this quote that sheds light on the other side of this, "Religion hasn't simply been fair to everybody. When you've been treated unfairly it's natural to feel anger or hate towards that institution. For an average white christian male he might see the unfairness in religion but he hasn't been treated unfairly. When he might criticize religion for this unfairness a homosexual person may feel angry for being called a sinner. Similarly in Islam there's a lot of reason why women and homosexuals could feel hatred towards religion. In Hindu religion there exists still untouchability based on caste in many parts of India. They've been treated unfairly for centuries. I don't endorse anger or hatred towards religion. But unfair treatment almost always begets anger and hatred. They're hatred is justified." I can completely understand this viewpoint and see why some individuals do develop a mistrust and possibly hatred towards religious institutions or even religious people. I too have experienced feelings of judgement, rebellion, and non acceptance in some levels in my religion however I have also felt these things many more times outside of my religion as well. I'm starting to wonder that it's not people becoming more unsupportive and critical of whether you are religious or not, rather it's people becoming more unsupportive and critical of each other. "But American society is more focused on individual freedom, and less focused on social rules than it used to be." (psychologytoday)
Generally speaking, society especially the millennial generation (which I realize I'm a part of) is very much an "I and me" generation. What do I want to do? What will make me happy? Why should I care? I deserve this.. I want that. This way of thinking leaks toxin into our conversations turning a simple difference of thought into "You don't agree with me so I hate you." This realization makes Human Communication majors like myself very troubled and depressed. I feel like I am getting a degree in a lost cause because we seem to no longer be communicating with each other as humans but rather fighting with each other like neanderthals. I slightly digress, this applies to religion in the sense that we continually put people into categories and little boxes of what we assume they are or what we think fits them best. We then can easily make conclusions in our heads that "all Christians are judgmental bigots." "All Atheists are satanists." "All Muslims are terrorists." I think most would agree these categories are wrong and totally uncalled for and uneducated. Yet why do some think this way? Why is it so easy to get a negative reaction when you hear certain affiliations? Why is it when someone has a bad experience (or several) with a religion or a religious person that they denote the whole religion as terrible and in turn it's affiliates? Let's be realistic, every religion is going to have a handful of radicals, a ton of hypocrites, and even more unfriendly "judgmental" members. And because of those few (in the grand scheme) are that way, every other member doesn't get a chance?
Going back to the human aspect, no one can hope to be all accepting, pure loving, and positive every moment of every day. What we can do is stop stereotyping, categorizing, and being critical of everyone all the time. If someone is religious and wants to share their love of God with you, don't see it as them "forcing it down your throat" say no thanks and move on and hopefully *most* religious people will move on as well. And if you're religious friend doesn't believe in drinking alcohol, don't try to tell her that's a stupid and dated belief and try to get her to break it; support her by not making her feel bad about it. If someone believes marriage is between a man and a woman, instead of personally attacking them and saying their religion is evil and must change, try saying "I don't understand that belief and I don't agree but let's move on." Of course, on the other side if someone doesn't want to come to church after you've asked them every Sunday for the past 6 months, please move on and simply pray for them if it worries you so much. Also, if someone has tattoos and/or a baby with his girlfriend and comes to church, don't stare them down and avoid them at all cost, maybe say hello what's your name? I'm so glad you are here and actually mean it. If you're son decides not to go on a mission or become a priest and if your daughter makes a mistake or choice to have premarital sex; don't make them feel worthless, don't kick them out, don't give them the silent treatment. LOVE THEM. It's your child and you are the one person they should be able to count on to pick them up when they have fallen down. Sorry I went a little far with that because I am a parent and it hurts me to see how parents react when their children choose differently than they were "supposed" to.
I've stressed my point enough I think so I'll briefly conclude. Our freedom of religion is still safe and sound as far as I'm concerned however the pressure from an individualistic society is making it harder to believe what you want and be able to voice that without scrutiny. In the same respect, Institutional pressure is making it harder to make your own choices and set your own path without punishment. Everyone wants to be right and no one wants to be wrong.
For my well informed post this week, I wanted to explore whether or not our First Amendment right to freedom of religion is being threatened. I am not discussing a single religion or the one I affiliate with rather all religion as a whole (and those who choose not to participate in religion). Before I begin this post, I personally don't feel like our freedom of religion is being threatened. If anyone truly believes it is needs to try living in most of the Middle East or North Korea. In the United States we are absolutely free to practice what we choose (as long as you aren't killing people or breaking the law). That being said, I think the better question to ask is how is tolerance changing when it comes to religion? It's clear for the most part that the government couldn't care less what you do or don't believe in, but what about the general culture or society? It seems on both sides it's getting more intolerant; religious people want everyone else to be religious and less or non-religious people want everyone to stop judging them and stop being.. what's the word? a bigot. Why can't both sides actually "do what they preach?"
I found this interesting website where you can have a clear and organized debate with others so I looked up this topic to see what people were saying. I really liked what this person said, "But the message from many places in the United States is that religions and religious people are to be silent. Religions and religious people deserve the right to be able to voice their beliefs in the public sphere without fear that they will lose their employment, home, or emotional well-being. The government has a duty to protect religious thought and not favor any religion or lack of religion. A secular state forces religious beliefs to be hidden, which goes against many religious beliefs which require its practitioners to be vocal and public about their beliefs..." Another more generalized statement I relate to was this, "Believe that marriage is between a man and a woman and you're intolerant. If you believe life begins at conception, you hate women. The people who are supposedly the most tolerant are actually the least." Being a religious (although not extreme or devout) person myself, I find these statements to be very true. If I speak out the tiniest statement on social media about a belief I have or why I support/don't support something, I am usually torn apart and personally attacked. Which is why I don't say anything anymore which I think is troubling that so many religious people feel like they can't speak up for fear of retaliation rather than a civil discussion or debate that would perhaps end with "let's agree to disagree but still be kind to one another."
On the other side of the debate we have those who feel they are suffocating under religion whether it's pressure put on by their parents or the community or church leaders. They feel like they are being watched until they make a mistake and then be scolded for it. I found this quote that sheds light on the other side of this, "Religion hasn't simply been fair to everybody. When you've been treated unfairly it's natural to feel anger or hate towards that institution. For an average white christian male he might see the unfairness in religion but he hasn't been treated unfairly. When he might criticize religion for this unfairness a homosexual person may feel angry for being called a sinner. Similarly in Islam there's a lot of reason why women and homosexuals could feel hatred towards religion. In Hindu religion there exists still untouchability based on caste in many parts of India. They've been treated unfairly for centuries. I don't endorse anger or hatred towards religion. But unfair treatment almost always begets anger and hatred. They're hatred is justified." I can completely understand this viewpoint and see why some individuals do develop a mistrust and possibly hatred towards religious institutions or even religious people. I too have experienced feelings of judgement, rebellion, and non acceptance in some levels in my religion however I have also felt these things many more times outside of my religion as well. I'm starting to wonder that it's not people becoming more unsupportive and critical of whether you are religious or not, rather it's people becoming more unsupportive and critical of each other. "But American society is more focused on individual freedom, and less focused on social rules than it used to be." (psychologytoday)
Generally speaking, society especially the millennial generation (which I realize I'm a part of) is very much an "I and me" generation. What do I want to do? What will make me happy? Why should I care? I deserve this.. I want that. This way of thinking leaks toxin into our conversations turning a simple difference of thought into "You don't agree with me so I hate you." This realization makes Human Communication majors like myself very troubled and depressed. I feel like I am getting a degree in a lost cause because we seem to no longer be communicating with each other as humans but rather fighting with each other like neanderthals. I slightly digress, this applies to religion in the sense that we continually put people into categories and little boxes of what we assume they are or what we think fits them best. We then can easily make conclusions in our heads that "all Christians are judgmental bigots." "All Atheists are satanists." "All Muslims are terrorists." I think most would agree these categories are wrong and totally uncalled for and uneducated. Yet why do some think this way? Why is it so easy to get a negative reaction when you hear certain affiliations? Why is it when someone has a bad experience (or several) with a religion or a religious person that they denote the whole religion as terrible and in turn it's affiliates? Let's be realistic, every religion is going to have a handful of radicals, a ton of hypocrites, and even more unfriendly "judgmental" members. And because of those few (in the grand scheme) are that way, every other member doesn't get a chance?
Going back to the human aspect, no one can hope to be all accepting, pure loving, and positive every moment of every day. What we can do is stop stereotyping, categorizing, and being critical of everyone all the time. If someone is religious and wants to share their love of God with you, don't see it as them "forcing it down your throat" say no thanks and move on and hopefully *most* religious people will move on as well. And if you're religious friend doesn't believe in drinking alcohol, don't try to tell her that's a stupid and dated belief and try to get her to break it; support her by not making her feel bad about it. If someone believes marriage is between a man and a woman, instead of personally attacking them and saying their religion is evil and must change, try saying "I don't understand that belief and I don't agree but let's move on." Of course, on the other side if someone doesn't want to come to church after you've asked them every Sunday for the past 6 months, please move on and simply pray for them if it worries you so much. Also, if someone has tattoos and/or a baby with his girlfriend and comes to church, don't stare them down and avoid them at all cost, maybe say hello what's your name? I'm so glad you are here and actually mean it. If you're son decides not to go on a mission or become a priest and if your daughter makes a mistake or choice to have premarital sex; don't make them feel worthless, don't kick them out, don't give them the silent treatment. LOVE THEM. It's your child and you are the one person they should be able to count on to pick them up when they have fallen down. Sorry I went a little far with that because I am a parent and it hurts me to see how parents react when their children choose differently than they were "supposed" to.
I've stressed my point enough I think so I'll briefly conclude. Our freedom of religion is still safe and sound as far as I'm concerned however the pressure from an individualistic society is making it harder to believe what you want and be able to voice that without scrutiny. In the same respect, Institutional pressure is making it harder to make your own choices and set your own path without punishment. Everyone wants to be right and no one wants to be wrong.
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